


Country Grammar

by Beefmaster



Category: Silicon Valley (TV)
Genre: Emotions, Humor, M/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-04-08
Updated: 2019-11-19
Packaged: 2020-01-06 15:26:53
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 6,144
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18391151
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Beefmaster/pseuds/Beefmaster
Summary: Richard and Jared take a little non-business trip.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> The beef is back!

**May 31st, San Francisco International Airport**

 

“Richard, love, wake up.  They’re boarding soon.” Jared gently shakes Richard’s shoulder.  

 

“Mrmm,” Richard says, burying his face deeper into Jared’s shoulder.  He sounds like a cat being awoken from a particularly deep slumber. “It’s too early.”

 

And he’s not wrong.  It’s 6:25 am, about 3 hours after Richard would normally go to sleep.  (“That’s the worst thing about the West Coast,” Richard had said on the drive to the airport.  “Our flights are too early.” “Really? I've always felt it was the legacy of the Mission Schools and associated genocide.” “Well that, that too.”)  So Richard is tired and grumpy, and he blames Jared. Which really isn’t fair, because Jared told him multiple times he didn’t have to come, but Richard insisted.  He’s a supportive boyfriend, after all.

 

“Richard, you have to wake up.”

 

Finally, Richard lifts his head and looks up at Jared.  His hair is sticking straight up, and his eyes are red with sleep.

 

“Fine, I’m awake,” he grumbles.  Jared chuckles, and places a kiss on Richard’s forehead.  Richard whines and grabs at Jared’s jaw, pulling him into an actual kiss.  A dangerous move on Richard’s part, because he knows how helpless Jared is when Richard kisses him.  

 

Sure enough, Jared is quickly whimpering into his mouth, clutching at his hair.  Richard finds it intoxicating, the combination of Jared’s lust for him and the taste of Jared’s tongue.  He wishes this moment could last forever, but he knows he has to shut it down when Jared starts pawing at his chest.

 

“Jared, Jared,” he says, pulling away panting.

 

“What?” Jared says, chasing after Richard’s mouth.  

 

“Now boarding our First Class passengers,” the flight attendant says into his intercom.

 

“That’s us,” Richard says.  “Come on.” He grabs Jared’s hand and makes his way to the boarding line, ignoring all the dirty looks they’re receiving from other passengers.   _They’re just jealous,_ he thinks, _that I’m making out with the hottest guy here and they’re not._

 

“Do you want aisle or window?”  Jared asks as they board the plane.  

 

“Window.  Looking out helps with the nausea.”  Richard slides into his seat and watches Jared push their suitcase into the overhead compartment.  More specifically, he watches the sliver of skin revealed just above Jared’s waistline as his arms stretch above his head.  It doesn’t matter how many times they have sex (and they’ve had sex many, many times), little things like this always get Richard excited.  

 

As Jared takes his seat, Richard slips his hand into his.

 

“Are you nervous?”  Richard asks.

 

“A little.  But mostly I’m excited.”

 

Richard nods.  

 

“It’s gonna be great, baby.”

 

Jared smiles and squeezes Richard’s hand.  Richard rests his head on Jared’s shoulder and resumes his nap.  

  


_Ping!_ “You are now free to move about the cabin.”  

 

“Richard,” Jared whispers, “wake up.”

 

“What?”  Richard asks.  He wipes some slobber off his chin.

 

“The fasten seatbelt is turned off,” Jared whispers.  “Do you want to do, you know, the thing we talked about?”  

 

Richard sits straight up.

 

“Wait, really?  Are you serious?”

 

“Yes,” Jared says shyly.  “I think it could be fun. Unless you don’t want to anymore.”  

 

“No, no, I want to,”  Richard says quickly. “I um, I really want to.  Let’s, yeah, Let’s do it.”

 

“Ok,” Jared says, giving Richard that we-have-a-secret smile.  “I’ll go to the restroom first, then you join me in five minutes.”

 

“Don’t you mean the head?”  Richard asks.

 

“What?”

 

“You know, the head.  That’s what they call it on ships.”

 

“We’re not on a ship.”

 

“Yeah, but-  nevermind. Just go.”

 

It takes an incredible amount of self-control for Richard not to watch Jared walk down the aisle to the bathroom.  He fixes his eyes on the window instead, pretending to be fascinated by the passing clouds.

 

In about five minutes, Richard unbuckles his seatbelt.

 

 _Gotta play it cool,_ he thinks, _can’t let anyone know what we’re up to._

 

“Wow, I’ve gotta piss like a racehorse,” he announces.  Judging by the face the woman across the aisle makes, this was the wrong call.  He gets up and scurries to the restroom.

 

“Hey baby,”  he murmurs, face pressed against the restroom door.  He can hear the sound of water running. Jared must be freshening up for him.  God, he loves how _fastidious_ Jared is.  He’s getting hard just imagining Jared washing his hands.  “It’s me. Are you ready for me? I’m so ready for you, and your big, thick-”

 

The door to the restroom slides open revealing a man who is most decidedly NOT Jared.  

 

“Hello?” the man says, brows furrowed.  He glances down at Richard’s erection.

 

“Oh my God.  Oh my God, I’m so sorry, I- I thought you were my boyfriend, I’m supposed to be meeting him in- I mean, we’re-”

 

The man points to a spot directly behind Richard.

 

“I think he’s in that one.”

 

Richard spins around to see another bathroom.

 

“Jesus, yeah, I’m so sorry-”

 

“No worries, bro.  Have fun.” The man turns and walks back to his seat.

 

Richard waits until he’s sat down before turning back around and knocking on the other bathroom.

 

“Jared?  Are you in there?”

 

Jared opens the door to the bathroom.  

 

“Hey handsome,” he says in his most seductive voice.

 

“Oh thank God.  Quick, let me in.”

  


Ten to fifteen minutes later, Richard and Jared leave the restroom together.  They’re both lacking the mental faculties at the moment to even try to be subtle, so they can’t help but hold hands and giggle on their way back to their seats.  The man from the restroom gives them a thumbs up as they pass him, which doesn’t even embarrass Richard.

 

The rest of the flight passes without incident.  This really isn’t all that hard, because despite all of Richard’s complaints, the flight to St. Louis isn’t actually that long.  However, the wait to get off the plane is entirely too long, in Richard’s opinion. He bounces his leg as he waits for the aisle to clear.  

 

“We’re in first class,” he complains.  “It just seems that, mathematically, we shouldn’t have to wait this long to get off the plane.  I mean, if you consider the number of people in front of us.”

 

“Richard, they haven’t even opened the doors to the plane yet.”

 

“Right.  Yeah, okay, fine.  I guess that’s a good excuse.”

 

They eventually make it off the plane and they head toward the gates.  Right before they get to baggage claim, Jared stops suddenly. Richard keeps walking for a good ten feet before he realizes Jared isn’t with him.

 

“Jared?  What’s wrong?”  Richard asks, walking back toward him.

 

“I’m not sure I can do this.”  

 

“”What?  Baby, no, you can definitely do this.  Come on. I believe in you.” When Jared doesn’t seem to respond to that, Richard stands on his tip-toes and kisses him gently on the cheek.  “Come on,” he says softly.

 

Jared smiles and grabs on to Richard’s hand.

 

“You’re right, I can do this.  Let’s go.”

 

They walk into baggage claim together, and scan the crowd of people wait for their loved ones.

 

“Which one is she?”  Richard asks.

 

“I don’t know.  Do you think- Richard, what if she didn’t come?”

 

Before Richard can respond to that, he hears a voice from the back of the crowd call out “Jared! Jared!”

 

Richard turns to see a young woman with a long brown ponytail waving a sign that says “Jared Dunn”.  

 

“That must be her,” Richard says, tapping Jared on the shoulder, “that’s Sierra.”

 

Jared squeezes Richard’s hand even tighter.

 

“Oh, wow.  That’s my sister.”


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> *freeze frame* So I bet you're wondering how we got into this sitaution

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> There are some glaring errors in this fic. I've never done DNA testing (I share Richard's opinion on the matter) so I had to make a lot of stuff up. Also I realized too late that the dates don't make any sense because of when the University of Louisville school year ends. Oops. Hopefully yo-u can still enjoy!
> 
> Thanks to anactoriatalksback for beta'ing and the rest of the Discord for encouraging me

**April 17th.  University of Louisville’s Ekstrom Library**

 

“Are you doing that 23andMe thing?” Jazmine asks.  “The whole team is doing it.”

 

“I don’t know, isn’t that kind of expensive?”  Sierra flips idly through her multi-variable calculus textbook.  Why don’t college-level math textbooks have pictures? It would make the whole thing less depressing.

 

“Nah, Maddie found this group discount.  If we get at least 10 people to do it, it’s only $50 a person.”

 

“Still pretty steep.  Besides, why do I need to do a DNA test?  I already know I’m white.”

 

Jazmine rolls her eyes.

 

“You’ve got a bad attitude, you know that?  I’m excited to do it. I’m gonna find out exactly where in Africa my ancestors were stolen from.”  

 

“Good luck with that.  Are you still on question nine?”

 

Jazmine reaches over the library table and closes Sierra’s textbook.

 

“Sierra please.  If you don’t do it, we won’t have enough people for the discount!  Come on. Come find some long lost ancestors with me.”

 

“Fine!  I’ll think about it.  But I doubt there’s anything interesting going on with me.”

 

Jazmine shrugs.

 

“You never know.”

___________________________________________

 

**April 20th. Jared and Richard’s apartment.**

 

“Jared, I’m home!”

 

“Give me a moment, I’m cleaning the bathroom.”

 

Richard puts his grocery bags down on the counter and starts idly flipping through the mail.  There isn’t much of interest, mostly bills and junk mail, but there is a package from a company called My DNA Story.  Richard turns it over in his hands.

 

“Jared? Can you come out here?”

 

Jared comes into the kitchen, removing a pair of rubber gloves.  

 

“What’s wrong?”

 

Richard holds up the package.

 

“Is this yours?”

 

Jared lights up.

 

“Yes!  I’m doing a little genetic research.  Isn’t modern science amazing? You can learn so many things from-”

 

“You can’t do this,” Richard interrupts.

 

Jared pales.

 

“Excuse me?”

 

“You can’t- look, these DNA services, 23andMe, whatever, you can’t trust them.  You’re just turning your genetic information over to corporate interests, and do you really think they’re going to what, protect it?”  Richard is getting worked up. “They’re going to sell that shit to health insurance companies, and for someone like you? With your health problems?  Jesus, Jared, you’re never going to get health insurance again.”

 

“Richard, I think you’re exaggerating-”

 

“I’m not!  Jared, you should know better than anyone, most of these tech companies, their whole business model is selling people’s data.  You think it’s bad when Facebook sells your demographic information? Imagine how bad it’s going to be when these companies sell your literal genome!”

 

“I don’t care!” Jared shouts.  Richard goes still. “Richard, this is important to me.  I want to know where I’m from.”

 

“Jared, I’m so sorry-”

 

“And I did my research.  I’m not going into this blind, I choose the company with the strictest privacy policy, but this is important to me.  I want to know if I have any living family that I don’t know about.”

 

Richard reaches for Jared’s hand.

 

“Baby, I’m sorry.  You’re right. If this is that important to you, you should do it.  And I’ll support you. I promise.”

 

Jared’s face softens.  

 

“Thank you, Richard.”

 

_____________________

 

**April 24th, 2019.  Miller Hall, University of Louisville**

 

After some pleading on Jazmine’s part, Sierra and Jazmine decide to do their kits together.  (“I don’t want to be alone in the dorm bathroom swabbing my cheek. I’m gonna look crazy.”)

 

“Aahh-aahh-aahh,” Jazmine vocalizes as she swabs her cheek.  She’s doing an exaggerated teeth brushing movement with the Q-tip.

 

“You’re the worst,” Sierra says, but she’s laughing.  

 

“Gotta get those cheek cells.”  Jazmine puts her Q-tip in the little baggie from their kit.  “What do you think you’re going to find? Do you think you’re secretly Black?  Maybe we’re sisters.”

 

“I doubt it.  I’m pretty sure my dad is a white supremacist.”

 

“Not funny,”  Jazmine says. SIerra doesn’t point out that it’s not a joke.

 

“I don’t know, man.  My dad left us when I was two, I know nothing about his side of the family.”  Sierra seals her plastic baggie tightly. “I guess I’m kind of excited. I think I’m going to do that GEDmatch thing that Maddie was talking about, where you can find family members.”

 

“Can we talk about Maddie for a second?  Why does she know so much about this DNA stuff?”

 

“Right?  She’s like, _really_ into it.  I think she thinks she’s secretly royalty.”

 

Jazmine snorts.

 

“That would explain so much about her personality.”

 

_____________________________________________

**May 6th.  Pied Piper’s corporate offices.**

“Richard,” Jared whispers, cracking open the door to his office.  Richard, who was concentrating heavily on a particularly troublesome piece of code, jolts at the sound of Jared’s voice.  He hits his knee on the bottom of his desk.

“Oh!  Jesus!”

“Richard!”  Jared rushes over to his side.  “Are you alright?” He leans down and inspects his knee.

“I’m fine, just, ah, what were you going to say?”

“Oh!”  Jared’s face lights up.  “I got an email from GEDmatch!  You know, the website where I uploaded my genome?”

“Yeah, yeah, I know what it is.”  Richard was barely on board with the idea of Jared giving his DNA to a private company, but the idea of Jared putting his genetic code in a publicly searchable database was almost unbearable.  But Jared insisted that GEDmatch was the only way to find potential family members.

“I got an email from them!  They found a match!”

“What?  Jared, that’s fantastic! Who is it?”

“I don’t know.  I haven’t actually opened the email yet.  I forwarded it to you, I thought maybe we could look at it together?”  Jared looks sheepishly up at Richard.

“Yeah, of course.  Pull up a chair.” Richard wants to invite Jared to sit in his lap, but he’s not sure the chair can take it, and the last time they tried lap-sitting in an office environment, Gilfoyle threatened to strike.

Richard pulls up his email, and sure enough there’s an email from GEDmatch with the subject “Congratulations!  You’ve Got a Match!”

“Are you ready?” Richard asks, rubbing Jared’s knee.  Jared nods. Richard clicks the email. He scrolls through a paragraph of legal disclaimers before they get to what they’re looking for.

“Sierra Decker,” Jared breathes.

“Who do you think it is?” Richard asks.  “A cousin? Sierra’s a young person’s name.”

“Well, my dad’s name is Duane Decker,” Jared says.  “Or, it was Duane Decker.” Jared tilts his head. “I wonder if my father is dead.”

Richard continues scrolling through the email.

“According to this, the level of genetic match between you two suggests that she is likely an aunt, niece, or half-sister.”

“Oh my, that’s much more closely related than I would have expected.”  Richard grips Jared’s thigh tighter.

“According to this, you can request to contact her.  Do you want to do that?”

Jared nods.

“Yes, let’s, let’s contact Sierra.”

 

______________________________________________

 

**May 6th.  Miller Hall, University of Louisville**

 

His name, officially, is Donald Dunn, but he introduces himself in his email as Jared.  He’s 34 years old, he lives in Palo Alto, California, and he wants to know if Sierra is related to anyone by the name of Duane Decker.

 

‘Yeah, Duane Decker is my father,’ Sierra writes back.  ‘Do you know him?’

 

‘Duane Decker is my birth father!’ Jared writes back.

 

Sierra is takes off her headphones and rolls back in her chair.  This is... A lot to process.

 

“Shit,” she says.  Her roommate grumbles in her sleep.  “Sorry, I’ll keep it down.”

 

‘That’s crazy,’ she types.  ‘We must be half-siblings.’

 

Jared’s response is quick.  

 

‘Wow!  I can’t believe I have a sister!  What is your mother’s name? Have you heard from Duane recently?’

 

Sierra hesitates.  There’s a very real possibility this is a trap, that this Jared person is lying to her to get personal information out of her.  But she’s intrigued. She quickly weighs the pros and cons, and decides to respond.

 

‘My mom’s name is Lisa Everett.  Duane left us when I was two, and I haven’t heard from him since.  My mom said he left to join some white power compound in Salem, Missouri.’

  


‘That fits with what I know about him,’ Jared responds.  ‘He left my mom before I was even born.’

 

‘So you were raised by a single mom too,’ Sierra types.  She can barely contain her excitement.

 

‘Not exactly.  It’s a long story.’

 

‘I have time.’

______________________________

 

**May 8th. Jared and Richard’s bedroom.**

 

“Jared, babe, are you going to sleep soon?”  Richard asks as he changes into his pajamas. Jared is currently sitting up in bed with his laptop at the late, late, hour of 11:30pm.  Well, it’s late for Jared, who is usually asleep by eleven.

 

“Soon, I promise, I’m just chatting with Sierra.”

 

“Isn’t it 2:30 in Louisville?  You should both be asleep.”

 

“She’s in college Richard, she stays up late.  Didn’t you pull all-nighters in college?”

 

Richard snorts as he crawls into bed.

 

“Jared, I pull all-nighters now.”  Richard snuggles up to Jared and rests his head on his shoulder.  “What are you chatting about?”

 

“Her basketball team.  They went to the NCAA tournament this year.”

 

“Mm, that’s cool.”  Richard nuzzles at Jared’s neck.  “Hey, since you’re still up, maybe we could, you know…”  Richard moves his hand to Jared’s thigh.

 

“Yes, darling, just give me a moment.”  Jared moves one hand to Richard’s hair and types one handed.

 

‘Sierra, so sorry, I’m going to have to call it a night.  My boyfriend and I are going to have sex now.’

 

‘Ok wow gross but have fun!!’ Sierra replies.  But Jared doesn’t see the message. He’s already gently placed the laptop on the floor.

  


__________________________________________

**May 13th. University of Louisville’s Ekstrom Library**

 

“Stop laughing so loud,” Emily says, kicking Sierra’s foot.  “This is a library.”

 

“You and Casey have been talking about Game of Thrones for like, the past hour.”

 

“Because last night’s episode was _insane_ ,” Casey says.  “I mean, what the fuck?? I was gonna name my daughter Daenerys, but not anymore.”

 

“I think you dodged a bullet there,”  Sierra says.

 

“Now I’ll have to name her Arya.  Way less badass.”

 

“Who are you texting?”  Emily asks. “Is it that guy from your art history class?”

 

“Oh, he’s cute.  And he’s definitely into you.”

 

“No, it’s my brother.  He’s really funny. He’s telling me about this guy he works with who’s literally a Satanist, and he-”

 

“Is this the brother you haven’t met yet?”  Casey interrupts.

 

“Yeah, the only brother I have.”

 

“You should meet up with him.  Also, if he’s cute, you should introduce him to me.”

 

Sierra rolls her eyes.

 

“He’s 34, and he has a boyfriend.”

 

“Damn, all the good ones are gay AND taken,”  Casey sighs dramatically.

 

“You should meet up with him, though,”  Emily says. “I mean, what are you doing this summer anyway?  Lifeguarding? Just take some days off and have him visit you in St. Louis.”

 

“Maybe I will,” Sierra says.  “Now shut up, finals start in two days and we’ve barely studied.”

  
  


**May 13th. Jared and Richard’s apartment.**

 

“Sierra wants to meet up,” Jared whispers into Richard’s curls.  

 

Richard squirms in Jared’s arms.  They’re in the middle of an episode of Outlander, AKA their prime weekly cuddling time.  Richard doesn’t really want to talk about Jared’s sister right now. He’s been hearing about her for weeks, and it’s starting to interfere with their couple time.

 

“Do you want to meet up with her?”  Richard asks. Just because he doesn’t want to talk about it doesn’t mean he won’t.

 

“I do.  She’s going to be home in St. Louis for the summer soon, and we don’t have anything big coming up at work, so the timing works out well.”

 

“Well then, you should go.”  

 

Jared doesn’t look at Richard for a moment.  Instead, he focuses his attention on fiddling with Richard’s sleeve.  

 

“It’s just, it’s a scary thing to have to do alone.”  His fiddling intensifies.

 

Richard softens.  He kisses Jared on the underside of his jaw.

 

“Do you want me to come with you?”  He asks.

 

Jared’s eyes snap up.  They’re big and watery.

 

“Oh, Richard, would you?  I would feel much more safe and secure with you there.”

 

“Yeah, of course, baby.  Besides, we could use a vacation.”

 

“Thank you, thank you, thank you,”  Jared says, peppering Richard’s face with kisses.  Richard giggles.

 

“Anything for my baby.”

 


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Jared, Richard, and Sierra spend the day together.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you to Itsevidentvery for beta'ing!

**May 31st, St. Louis Lambert International Airport**

 

The first thing Richard notices about Sierra Decker is how tall she is.  She’s probably around 6’2”, and is definitely the tallest woman Richard has ever seen.

 

“Jesus,” Richard says, as Sierra fights through the crowd to approach them, “how tall was your dad?”

 

“I never met him,” Jared says, “but my mother was around five three, so he must be pretty tall.”

 

Sierra is wearing a University of Louisville t-shirt with the sleeves cut off.  Her long brown hair is in a thick braid. She looks like every girl in FFA that Richard went to high school with, except bigger.

 

“Jared!  Hey!” Sierra says.  She spreads her arms and goes in to hug Jared.  Richard hangs back awkwardly.

 

“It’s so wonderful to finally meet you,” Jared says.  “I’m so excited for this weekend.”

 

“Hi, I’m Richard.”  He figures this as good a time as any to insert himself.  “I’m Jared’s boyfriend.”

 

“Oh, right! It’s great to meet you as well!”  She hugs Richard, crushing his hands between them.  He does his best not to accidentally graze her boobs.

 

“Did y’all check any bags, or is this it?” Sierra asks, when she finally pulls away.

 

“We’ve got it all here,” Jared says.  

 

“Ok!  In that case, just follow me out to my car.”  

 

Sierra and Jared chatter pleasantly on their way to the car.  

 

“So how is lifeguarding going?”

 

“Ok.  Honestly, it’s pretty boring.  Not nearly as many drownings as I would have assumed.”

 

“Well, Richard is a pretty weak swimmer.  If we come visit you at work, that might change.”

 

Sierra grins as she unlocks the car.

 

“Sounds like a plan.”

  
  


“So I was thinking we could get some lunch and then go to the Arch, but did you want to drop your stuff at the hotel first?” Sierra asks as she buckles her seatbelt.

“We should probably check into the hotel first,” Jared says.  “Is that ok?”

“Sure!  Where are you staying?”

 

“The downtown Hilton,” Jared says.  He turns around to beam at Richard in the backseat.  “Only the best for my baby.”

 

Sierra rolls her eyes as she types the hotel into her phone.

 

 “Sorry again that we couldn’t host y’all, but my mom’s house is pretty small.” 

“Will we be meeting your mother?”  Jared asks.

“Oh, yeah, shoot, I forgot to say, my mom invited y’all over for dinner tonight.  Is that weird?”

_ Kind of, _ Richard thinks.  It’s one thing to meet your boyfriend’s long-lost half-sister, it’s another thing to meet her mother.  He’s starting to regret coming along on this trip. He wants to be there for Jared, but he’s starting to feel like he’s intruding, like maybe Jared and Sierra could have better sibling bonding or whatever if he wasn’t there.

“That’s not weird at all,” Jared says brightly.  “Of course, I’m not exactly an expert on what is and isn’t weird.”  He looks back at Richard expectantly, as if he’s the ultimate arbitrator of normality.  Laughable.

“Uh, yeah, that should be fun,” Richard says.  He doesn’t have it in him to deny Jared this.

 

“Perfect! I’ll text her when we get to the hotel!”

 

At the hotel, Sierra insists on carrying their bags in herself (‘y’all’re making me miss my gym time, at least let me do this”).  She trails Jared and Richard as the approach the front desk.

 

“Hello, I’m checking in for Jared Dunn,” Jared says to the woman at the front desk (Kendra, according to her name tag).

 

“Great!” Kendra says brightly.  “Let me see here. Oh, it looks like you’re booked for one king bed, let me just change that to two queens for you-”

 

“Oh, that’s not necessary,”  Richard cuts in. “We want the king.”  And he gets it. Two men travelling together, dressed more or less business casual (it’s too hot for a hoodie), she assumes they’re business colleagues.  Which they are. So it’s no big deal and he’s not annoyed, not at all, at Kendra, for assuming they’re not together. And yesterday, when he was holding hands with Jared at Starbucks and the cashier asked if they would be paying separately even though they  _ ordered _ together, that was no big deal as well.

 

“Oh, ok.”  Kendra furrows her brow.  “Well then, I can have someone bring up a cot or something-”

 

“We just need the one bed,” Jared snaps.  At least, he comes as close to snapping as Jared is capable of.  Richard puts his hand on Jared’s lower back, rubbing soothing circles.

 

“Um, I’m not staying with them,”  Sierra says. “I’m just dropping them off.”

 

Richard blushes.  He forgot Sierra was behind them.  

 

“Oh! Sorry!  Ok, that makes more sense,”  Kendra says. She types a few more things.  “You’re all set! Here are your keys, gentlemen, enjoy your stay at the Hilton!”

 

They get lunch near the hotel, and then it’s only a short walk to the Arch.  Richard is excited, until he sees the tiny little elevator that the three of them are going to take up to the top.

 

“Um, I don’t think we’re going to be able to fit anymore people in here,” the tour guide says, watching Jared and Sierra try to cram their long bodies into the little pod.  “We’re going to have to leave the last two seats empty.”

 

“How fast does thing thing go?”  Richard asks. “Sorry to be a pain, but I have some issues with heights, and with rocking back and forth, and, well, with motion in general.”

 

“You’ll be fine,” the tour guide says, forcing the door shut.  “Next!”

 

The ride up isn’t that bad.  Richard only vomits a little.

 

“Richard, are you-”

 

“It’s fine, Jared.  I swallowed it.”

  
  


They end up walking around downtown St. Louis for awhile, talking about Pied Piper and college and whether or not they should make more American Girl films (conclusion: they should, but only if Julia Roberts continues to executive produce them).  Eventually, Sierra announces that it’s time for them to head over to her house.

 

“You’re going to like my mom,” Sierra says, practically skipping as she gets out of the car.  “I’ve been telling her all about you. Well, all about Jared. But she knows you’re coming, Richard!”

 

“Cool!” Richard gives a double thumbs up, but he quickly decides it’s weird.  He buries his hands in his hoodie pockets instead. Jared reaches into Richard’s pocket and pulls out his hand, holding it in his own.

 

“Mom!  We’re home!”  Sierra calls as she unlocks the front door.

 

“Coming!” a voice calls from another room.  Richard and Jared slowly approach the house.  

 

Sierra’s mom rounds the corner.  

 

“Hey there!”

 

_ Jesus,  _ Richard thinks,  _ she can’t be more than 5’3”.  Duane Decker must be a fucking giant.  _

 

“Ms. Everett!  It’s such a pleasure to meet you!” Jared sticks out his hand to shake.

 

“Please, call me Lisa,” she says, shaking Jared’s hand.  “I would hug you, but I have bread crumbs all over my hands, and I’d hate to get it on your shirt.”

 

“Are you making toasted ravioli?”  Sierra asks.  

 

“I am!  It’s a St. Louis specialty, I figured I had to make it for our guests!”

 

“Yes!”  Sierra turns to Richard and Jared.  “My mom makes the best toasted rav, because her mom is Italian.  Which might be why Dad left us.”  

 

“Sierra!  Don’t say things like that!”  Lisa admonishes.  

 

“I wouldn’t be surprised.  One of my foster mothers didn’t have a very high view of Italians either,”  Jared says earnestly.

 

“Not that we have anything against Italians!”  Richard interjects quickly. “One of my best friends is Italian!” He immediately cringes.  ‘ _ Don’t worry, I have Italian friends.’  Really, Richard? _

 

“How about we all come into the kitchen?”  Lisa says. “This way, folks.”

 

The kitchen is small but cozy, with a vase of sunflowers in the middle.  It reminds Richard of his own parent’s kitchen, although his mother’s cooking never smelled this good.

 

“It smells delicious, Lisa,” Richard says.  

 

“Thank you Richard.  It’s Richard, right? Do you want some wine?”

 

“Yes to both, please.”

 

“Excellent.”  Lisa begins pouring red wine into a glass.  “Jared?”

 

“Mom, he doesn’t drink!  His mom was addicted to methamphetamines!”  

 

Richard turns to Jared.  

 

“I didn’t know that,” he says quietly.

 

At the same time, Lisa says “Sierra!  We have company!”

 

“That’s why you don’t drink?  Why didn’t you tell me?”

 

Jared looks sheepish.

 

“You never asked.”

 

“Well, I have some lemonade in the fridge, would you like that?  Sierra, pour Jared some lemonade.”

 

Richard covers Jared’s hand with his own and rubs his thumb over the back of it.  

 

Later that evening, the four of them are gathered in the living room, eating a Marie Callender lemon meringue pie.  

 

“Jared, I hope you don’t mind me asking you this, but Sierra told me Jared isn’t your real name.  Why did you change it?” Lisa asks.

 

Jared puts down his fork.

 

“I don’t mind at all. I actually didn’t change it, but when I first started working at Hooli, Gavin Belson just started calling me Jared, and well, names stick.  My real name is Donald.”

 

“Donald Dunn,”  Sierra says. “I bet kids called you Donald Duck.”

 

“Sometimes,  Which is part of why I didn’t mind the name change.”  Jared picks up his fork again. “You know, my mother actually wanted to call me Don, after Don Henley.  But then my father left, so she didn’t want to keep the last name, and Don Dunn doesn’t exactly have the right sound to it.”

 

“Don Henley?  From the Eagles?”

“Don Dunn.  It’s like the Law and Order sound.”

 

“Don Decker.  Like Don Draper.”  Richard fiddles with his collar a little bit.  Jared blushes, turning to look at Richard. Richard wonders if Jared is imagining the same thing he is- Jared in a dark gray suit and tie, sprawled out in an armchair, whiskey in one hand and a cigarette in the other.  

 

“What time is it?”  Richard asks, not tearing his eyes away from Jared.

 

Lisa looks at her watch.

 

“9:34.  Should we play a game?  Or do you two need to head out?”

 

“I think we should head out,” Jared says.  He rises from the couch.

 

“Yeah, we, uh, I’m really tired.  YOu know, time zones.”

 

“It’s 7:30 in California.” Sierra frowns.

 

“Yes, well, early to bed, you know.  Jared, do you want to call the Uber?”

 

“I’ve got a better rating,”  Jared explains to Lisa and Sierra.  “It was so lovely meeting the two of you.  Sierra, I’ll see you tomorrow?”  

 

“Yes!  I can’t wait!  We’ll go to the zoo.  I haven’t seen the cheetahs since I got back.”

 

“She loves those cheetahs,” Lisa says, rising from her chair.  “Jared, it was such a pleasure meeting you. I hope we’ll get to see each other again while you’re here.”

 

“I hope so too,”  Jared says, and opens his arms for a hug.  Lisa stands on her tiptoes to return the hug.

 

Sierra walks them to the door.  

 

“I’ll see you tomorrow guys!  How does 9 sound? We can do breakfast.”

 

“Perfect,” Jared says, hugging her.  “Well, we better get out of here. Don’t want the car to leave without us.”  

 

Richard is already buckled in when Jared slides into the car.

 

“I think that went well,” Jared says.  “I can’t wait for tomorrow.”

 

“I’m glad,” RIchard says, and then, in his best attempt at a seductive voice, he adds “but tonight isn’t over, Don Decker.”

 

Jared smiles.  He leans over Richard, cupping his cheek and pulling him in for a deep kiss.

 

His Uber rating is definitely going to suffer.


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Believe it or not, I actually had most of this written before this most recent episode, so this wasn't intended as a "fuck you" to canon. but also, like, fuck canon.

Here’s the thing: technically, this trip is going really well.  Jared and Sierra are getting along like a house on fire, they’re getting to know each other, and Richard is having fun hanging out with them.  They went to the zoo, the botanical gardens, the city museum. But something is off. The things he’s telling Sierra are things he’s never told Richard, things Richard knows nothing about.  It makes Richard’s palms itch, to hear Jared talk so openly about his mysterious past to a woman who’s practically a stranger.

Richard brings it up the night of their second day in St. Louis.  They’re watching Outlander in their hotel bed. Richard has his head pillowed on Jared’s shoulder.

“So,” Richard starts, “I didn’t know you were from Pennsylvania.”  

“Yes you did, silly,” Jared says.  He adjusts the laptop in his lap. “I told you I grew up in Philadelphia.”

“Yeah, I knew that, but I didn’t know you were born in, um, Lebanon.”

“Lebanin,” Jared corrects.  “We pronounce it Lebanin.” He squeezes Richard’s shoulder.  “Are you sure I never told you?”

“Yeah, I would have remembered.  I remember the things you tell me.”

Jared shrugs.

“I don’t know, I guess it just never came up.”

“I wish you would tell me these things,” Richard says.  He pauses the show. “I mean, we’ve been together for almost five months now and I don’t even know where you were born, but you’ve told Sierra everything about yourself in the first two days of knowing her.”

“This isn’t the first two days of knowing her.”  Jared wriggles uncomfortably. “We’ve been chatting for months.”

“Still,” Richard says petulantly.  He knows he’s being kind of an ass, but he doesn’t care.  “You’ve known me for years. Why don’t you tell me these things?”

“Because it makes you uncomfortable.  You hate hearing about my childhood.”

Richard sits up.

“What?  Jared, what are you talking about?”

“Richard, come on, you don’t want to do this.”  Jared reaches for Richards hip, rubbing his thumb in soothing circles.

“Yes, I do.” Richard puts his hand over Jared’s, stilling it.  “What do you mean?”

“I just mean, whenever I talk about my childhood trauma, you seem uneasy.  You always have. I don’t ever want to cause you any distress.”

“That’s not true!”

“Richard.”

“Ok, fine, it’s- but, look, it distresses me more that you don’t tell me things.  Look, I’m your boyfriend. I can take the pain from you. For you.” Richard runs his fingers through Jared’s hair.  “I want to be there for you.”

Jared smiles softly.

“I want that too.”

“I just- you should be able to talk to me.  I want you to be able to tell me things. And it hurts to see you say all those things to Sierra because I feel like I fucked up.  I’m sorry I’ve been- I’m sorry I’ve made you feel like you couldn’t talk to me.”  

“It’s alright.” He brushes a few curls out of Richard’s face.  “I think it’s something we both need to work on. It’s not that I trust Sierra more than you, it’s just that I’m making up for lost time with her.  You and I already have years of shared history.”  

Richard nods.

“I get it.  But I still want you to tell me everything.”

 

And Jared does.  He tells Richard about his mother, Kathleen Dunn, and how she meets Duane Decker in high school.  Kathleen gets pregnant, they get married, and a few months later, Duane abandons her, never to be heard from again.  Kathleen moves back in with her family, and helps her sister Angela care for their mother, who is dying of breast cancer.  A few years after Kathleen gives birth to Donald Dunn, her mother dies, and a few years after that, Angela marries an electrician named Jerry, and they move to Philadelphia to start a new life together.

It’s around this time that Kathleen discovers the true love of her life: methamphetamines.  She splits her time between raising her son, working at the local A&P, and smoking meth in her friends’ basements.  Pretty soon, her schedule no longer allows for her job or her son, and she spends all of her time in drug dens. Eventually, her neighbor calls Child Protective Services when Kathleen leaves Donald home alone for a full 48 hours.

At this point, young Donald is taken to live with his aunt Angela and his Uncle Jerry in Philadelphia.  

“I only saw my mother one more time after that,” Jared says.  “She came to visit us when I was 7. She said she was getting her life back on track, she was going to get clean, get another job, find somewhere to live, and she’d get custody of me again.  I think she died of an overdose about three months later.”

Richard squeezes Jared’s hand.  

“I’m so sorry.”

Jared turns over to face Richard.  He wraps his arm around Richard’s waist and buries his face in Richard’s neck.

“I think that’s all I want to talk about tonight.”

Richard nods his head, his nose rubbing against Jared’s hair.   

“I love you,” he says.  It’s all he can think to say.

“I love you too.”

They fall asleep like that, in each others arms, with the lights still on.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> If you would like to talk about how stupid this most recent episode was, you can come complain to me on Tumblr at Ladiesloveduranduran, you can find me in the Silicon Valley Discord, or you can write your complaints on a piece of paper, tie it around the neck of a cow, and let that cow free in the streets of Chicago. I'll find it.


End file.
